New nutrient recovery system coming to Edmonton waste-treatment plant

Jul 21, 2014

Metro

A new piece of technology that got it’s start in Edmonton will soon be returning to the city’s waste-water treatment plant, with the goal of keeping hundreds of kilograms of nutrients out of the North Saskatchewan River.

Ostara, a B.C. company that ran a pilot project at the EPCOR waste treatment plant in 2007, will be permanently installing their technology at the facility this summer.

Gavin Post, the project manager with EPCOR, said the new technology will help deal with one of the major problems at the Cloverbar plant.

“Putting excess nutrients into the river is classically one of the challenges with waste water. We’re impacting and we’re changing the environment,” he said.

Among other nutrients, the company’s process can remove phosphorous from the system. Post said that helps the system run more efficiently with fewer problems.

“We‘re moving from a poor diet to a cleaner diet is the best way to say it,” he said

Anthony Boone, with Ostara, said it’s nice for the company to be returning to where they first tested their system.

He said the company will also provide EPCOR a revenue stream, because the phosphorous is sold as a high-value fertilizer.

“Not only are we saving money from the reduction in chemicals and from improved plant reliability, but there’s also this revenue stream which helps offset any of the operating costs,” he said.